that she was to marry John Crumb.  Since that time not a word had been spoken between the men respecting the girl.  Mr Carbury had heard, with sorrow, that the marriage was either postponed or abandoned,—­but his growing dislike to the baronet had made it very improbable that there should be any conversation between them on the subject.  Sir Felix, however, had probably heard more of Ruby Ruggles than her grandfather’s landlord.

There is, perhaps, no condition of mind more difficult for the ordinarily well-instructed inhabitant of a city to realise than that of such a girl as Ruby Ruggles.  The rural day labourer and his wife live on a level surface which is comparatively open to the eye.  Their aspirations, whether for good or evil,—­whether for food and drink to be honestly earned for...